


John Has an Unusual Interest

by OutTheWazoo



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Allergies, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cold, Common Cold, Fetish, M/M, Male Slash, Male Sneezing, Modern Era, Sneezing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-05 13:41:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14045457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OutTheWazoo/pseuds/OutTheWazoo
Summary: John Laurens has a sneezing fetish. When this comes to fruition in the bedroom, Alex begins to act strange and John realizes he has to tell him somehow. But how, and when? Set in a modern-day AU.





	1. The Inciting Incident

“Ah-ahh! Fuck! J-John!”   
John moaned, arching his back. He was in pure heaven, and did not believe it could get better. Until… He heard the hitching of Alex’s breath against his neck. It wasn’t a sex breath hitch, it was very much the hitch of-   
“HRISHH!” Alex sneezed down John’s neck.  
A jolt of white hot energy coursed through John’s body and he came immediately. It wasn’t even time to cum yet ordinarily- they were just beginning. But he came nonetheless. Everywhere. It was the first time Alex had sneezed on him, and during sex, no less. He could feel the mist lingering on his shoulders and the imprint of the bridge of Alex’s nose in his neck. He could feel the slightest bit of moisture left over on his skin.   
“Full of anticipation, are we?” Alex asked, and even though John was on his stomach and could not see his face, he could hear the smile in Alex’s voice.  
John felt his face turn really red as he realized what just happened. It felt amazing in the moment. He realized what it must’ve looked like to Alex. Oh, he didn’t want him to find out this way. He was hoping he’d never find out at all, but it became kind of hard when he was sneezing right onto him. Alex came inside of John a few minutes later.   
Alex put his head back on the pillow and John cuddled up and laid his head on his chest. “I’m sorry I uh, came really quickly,” John said, still beet red.   
“Oh, stop it. You can’t help it when you cum,” Alex tousled John’s hair.  
DId he know already? Did he care? Was he going to say anything about it? Was he even going to mention that he sneezed?  
Alex was asleep a second later, snoring into John’s ear. Alex could fall asleep quickly after sex because he was so sleep-deprived most of the time. John wasn’t feeling sleepy at all, so he got up and poked around for a while on his laptop. He avoided searching up about his situation because in the past that had only got him more and more anxious and paranoid.   
When Alex woke up, he wanted to cuddle. He did not mention what had happened. He said he just wanted to bury his face in John’s shoulder and enjoy what little time he had left before he had to go to his night class. John honestly felt like Alex was a huge puzzle to put together most of the time, especially now. He seemed to not know or care, but still sniffled into John’s shoulder often. John became hard at the thought of his boyfriend coming down with a cold, which prompted a small amused puff of air from Alex when he felt the sensation against his leg.   
John wanted to scream. He wanted an answer and he wanted an answer now.   
“I gotta leave, baby,” Alex said, kissing John’s forehead.   
As his boyfriend walked out the door, John went to the bathroom to take care of himself. Then he sat on the couch and dialed up Marquis. Marquis was a transfer student on a visa from France and along with Hercules Mulligan, had become John’s best friend. He answered with a huff. “Why are you interrupting my night, mon chon?”  
“What, are you busy?” John asked.  
“Well, ‘erc and I were ‘anging out,” Marquis explained.  
“Could you spare a minute or two so I can tell you what just happened?” John asked nervously.   
“It sounds urgent. I will just step over into the other room,” he said. Shuffling could be heard, then a closing door. “What’s up, mon ami?”  
“He uh… God this is embarrassing, but he s-sneezed during sex,” John said nervously. “While he was, uh, inside of me.”  
“And zen?” Marquis prompted.  
“I immediately came,” John said, feeling the heat return to his face.  
“Oh, my friend, oh no…” You could hear the sympathetic shame through the phone. Marquis had been told about John’s fetish while they both were drunk, so he understood why that would be so embarassing. It took a bottle of whiskey and a game of truth-or-dare to pry it out of John on his end, so Marquis figured he wouldn’t be willing to say anything sober in everyday conversation.   
“What do I do?” John asked, biting his nails.   
“I zink it might be time to tell him, love,” Marquis said.   
“He will laugh.”  
“‘e will not. You told me, and I did not laugh,” Marquis replied. “And I was drunk. And I do not have sex with you, so the stakes are ‘igher for ‘im if ‘e laughs.”  
John sighed. “Okay, alright. I’ll tell him, but I’m really nervous to do it…”  
“Tell me. Pretend I am Alex.”  
“Okay, uh, well, there’s something I need to tell-”  
“Atchoum!” Marquis fake-sneezed through the phone.  
John scoffed. “What was that?”  
“I am upping ze stakes in case he sneezes,” Marquis explained.   
“Well, okay. There’s something I need to tell you. I h-have a fetish.”  
“What is zat fetish?”  
“S-Sn-Snee-Sneezing,” John managed.   
“See? It’s not that hard,” Marquis said.   
John still bit his lip nervously.   
“You will do fine, mon chon,” Marquis said dismissively. “Call me and tell me how it goes. And now, if you will excuse me, I have a video game to play.”  
“Bye, Marq. I’ll see you in class tomorrow,” John said, hanging up.   
He made himself some tea and watched Netflix before going to bed. 

He was woken out of the inky blackness of sleep by a hand shaking his shoulder. Then a whisper- “Hey, Johnny boy, wake up.” It was Alex.  
“What the fuck?” John whispered when he snapped to. “It’s the middle of the night, dude.”   
“I took DayQuil instead of NyQuil,” Alex whispered back.   
“Why would you need any type of ‘Quil’? Seems like you were fine last night.” He didn’t want to discuss how he secretly wished for Alex to catch a cold as he sniffled when they cuddled.  
“I-I… HAESCHooo!” Alex sneezed into his hand. “It happened while I was in night class. My throat started to hurt, and it all went downhill from there.”   
“Poor baby…” John reached up and grabbed Alex’s shoulder, carefully moving him to a lying down position on the bed next to him. “Can’t sleep, I assume.”  
“No,” Alex said, his congestion audible through his choppy and stilted breathing.   
“Want me to rub your head, like last time?” John offered, brushing some hair out of Alex’s face.   
“Actually no. I, uh, have kind of a weird request.”  
John’s heart thumped loudly in his chest.  
“My nose really hurts. I was wondering, could you rub it for me?”  
John was sure he looked like a red, sweaty mess. Thank God it was dark. “Um, sure. Any, uh, specific suggestions?”  
“No, just rub it. It aches horribly, Johnny,” Alex said with a pout in his voice.   
“But, you might s-sn…” John couldn’t manage the word.  
“Don’t worry about it,” Alex said and scooted in even closer. John did not think ‘closer’ was possible in this situation, but apparently it was.  
John started at it. He applied gentle pressure to Alex’s nose, rubbing gently just outside of either nostril on either side. He always loved Alex’s big nose, the expressiveness of it. It made him very distinct. He also loved the man’s wide, beautiful nostrils and the way they flared out wider when he was about to sneeze. John’s hands moved up towards the bridge, which prompted a little gasp from his boyfriend. He wished he could see clearly what was going on with those nostrils.   
“I think I’m going to suh-sneeze… HIISSSHew!” Alex sneezed in John’s hands. The spray was warm and wet.  
“Ah, b-bl-ble-”  
“Thank you,” Alex said with a sniffle. He was making it really easy for John to not feel embarrassed about his inability to say ‘sneeze’ or ‘bless you’ or whatever around him because he knew what he was trying to say. “Tickles and hurts so bad…” he mumbled, reaching up to touch the tip of his own nose now. “Oh, this is such an awful cold.”  
John was slowly getting harder and harder as time was going on, but he was almost painfully hard now. He didn’t want to cum spontaneously again, especially now that he had already came once in the presence of Alex’s sneezes, but Alex was being borderline flirtatious and making it hard. Literally. “I wish you’d be able to sleep. Then you’d feel much better,” he said quietly.  
“You’re helping,” he said, closing his eyes. John continued to massage. He wished he could do something to take care of himself before he just let go right in front of Alex.   
But then, he felt a finger tugging at his waistband. The pajama bottoms John was wearing were being pulled down. “A-Alex?”   
“What?” Alex asked, pulling John’s pajamas down further.   
“What are you d-doi-”  
“Well, you seemed a little worked up,” replied Alex.  
“A-A-Alex…” John stuttered, feeling even more moisture dripping down his forehead.   
“Relax, honey,” Alex said, taking John’s cock in his mouth. 

A pleasurable session later, and even with DayQuil in his system, Alex was conked out. John was again, unable to sleep, and seriously considering not going to class in the morning so he could get his shit together. Maybe he’d get on the subway and go all around the city, just pump up his music and think. He wanted to get away so badly. He wondered if Alex understood or was just reacting to John’s hardness. He wondered if there was even a point in telling him anymore if he kept pleasuring him anyway. He knew Alex would probably sleep in, seeing as his first class started at 3PM. He wanted to go see Marquis, because he knew he was the only one who understood.   
Eventually John fell asleep, arms wrapped tightly around his boyfriend, who sounded heavily congested even in his snores.   
John was just barely conscious of the light when he felt Alex’s nose up against his face. He also felt the soft widening of Alex’s nostrils against his cheek. Then he heard the tiny hitching of breath that indicated John’s favorite thing was coming. John was now conscious of the light and so much more. “Huh… huh... heh…” One more shaky breath, then “HRISHee!” Alex sneezed against John’s cheek. Spray went everywhere. Then he heard mumbling. He didn’t hear an apology, although he didn’t need one.   
John patted Alex’s back, who snuffled loudly in response. John took a look at the clock and noticed it was eleven already. He should probably be getting up. “Um, Alex?” he whispered. “Are you going to class today?”  
“No, I was uh, thinking more of staying home and… huh… huuh…” Alex scrubbed under his nose. “Huh’CHISHHee! Um, huh-huh…”  
John held two fingers under Alex’s twitching nose.   
“Thought you w-wan… huh… huh-HTISHHoo!” Alex’s thought was apparently derailed as he sneezed directly into John’s hand. John squirmed.   
“What was that?” John asked, running his fingers through Alex’s now tangled black hair with his other hand.   
“N-Nothing,” Alex said with a shiver. “Yeah, I should stay home. I don’t usually say I should stay home. I… I have work to do, but…” He was having trouble articulating it, obviously.   
“I for one am pretty proud,” John said. “You never stay home.”   
“I… uh, yeah,” Alex said. John noticed in the morning light that he was blushing on top of the flush his cheeks got from the cold.   
“Should I stay home too?” John asked. “I notice that you… might need me.”  
“Yes, I need you, but only stay home if you feel like it or can as well,” Alex said quietly, almost too softly. John wondered if he was hurting worse than he let on.   
“I can always get notes from somebody,” John said, letting his horn drive his decision. He really wanted to be with Alex when Alex was like this, since he got sick so rarely.   
Alex wrapped his arms around John, breathing hot air on his neck. A normal person would find this really gross or uncomfortable, but John was sure he had died and gone to heaven. He would very much like for the afterlife to be him continuously taking care of either Alex, or if Alex would not go to heaven with him, a very attractive man like Alex.   
He wondered if today would be a good day to tell him. He always wanted to tell him, and now a sniffly, red-nosed opportunity was staring him in the face. For the course of an entire day. But first, what’s important.  
“Do you want some breakfast?” John asked.   
“I don’t know if I could eat much,” Alex replied, yawning.   
“I would tell you at least to drink a protein shake, but those have dairy in them, which increases mu-... muc…” He was trying to say it, he really was.  
“I know,” said Alex with a small smile. Again, he did not need to say a word.   
“Eat a banana, maybe?” John suggested. “I don’t want you to keel over.”  
Alex apparently still had the energy to raise his eyebrows suggestively.  
“Oh, shut up,” John snapped.   
Bringing a single banana and a water bottle back to his boyfriend, John climbed on top of the sheets and helped bring Alex up to a sitting position. The poor baby was so sweaty, and so pale. Every part of John wanted to flip Alex onto his back and fuck him, but at the same time, his heart melted when he saw how sick and weak his boyfriend was. The fucking could wait. A lot of things could wait. What mattered now was Alex, and only Alex. Not much different than a normal day for John, seeing as John’s whole universe revolved around Alex, but now it was because his boyfriend, for once, actually needed him. Someone in his life actually needed him. It felt amazing. He helped Alex drink the water and eat the banana, Alex chuckling the whole time.   
The sun was shining in through their window. John shut it, leaving the two of them in the relative dark, sharing a cuddle underneath the large comforter.


	2. The Smell of Victory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will John get the guts to tell Alex? Also, the two do some reminiscing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's no sex in this part, but keep your eyes peeled for the next part! I hope this satisfies you and I'm so happy to have the readership I do! I love each and every one of you guys.

It was approaching noon, and between Alex sneezing his nose off and John secretly going to the bathroom and taking care of himself (his refractory period, it seemed, was waning), nothing much had happened. John didn’t want to tell him yet because it seemed as if Alex was in too much of a weakened state to take that kind of news. He wanted Alex to be of complete mind and body when he broke the news to him. He could not wait until allergy season, seeing as there was still snow on the ground outside. Maybe he would wait until Alex’s cold was going aw-...  
John’s phone was ringing. It was Marquis. John walked out of the room, out of the apartment, and into the foyer to take this call. “Hello?”  
“John, you are not at our class,” Marquis said.  
“Alex… He…”  
“Oh, do not tell me he has a cold,” Marquis said with an undercurrent of subtle amusement.  
“You’re right, but if you say a goddamn thing-”  
“Do not worry,” Marquis replied. “I will not tell.”  
“He’s so adorable like this,” John gushed. “Usually he doesn’t take time off at all.”  
“Maybe you considered it is for you?” Marquis offered.  
“You don’t think he k-”  
“Do not worry about zat, my love,” Lafayette said sharply.  
“Oh, um, okay. Cause he kinda s-s-s... all over me this morning and didn’t even say sorry,” John said, scratching the back of his head.  
“Do not worry about it. ‘ave you told him?” Marquis asked.  
“No,” John said quietly. “I’m waiting for the right moment.”  
“My love, do not wait! You ‘ave to tell him as quick as possible,” Marquis replied.  
“I don’t really think I can. What if he gets up and leaves? I don’t want him walking his sweaty, shaky ass down the hallway and being out there on his own. He can barely get out of bed,” John said.  
“I do not zink he will leave, my love,” Marquis said.  
“How would you know?”  
“John, Alex loves you. Do you think that would change if he found out your fetish?” Marquis asked, near-huffily.  
“Well, maybe not. But he might find it totally wei-”  
“Tell him. Goodbye,” Marquis said, hanging up.  
John went back to the bedroom. Alex was sitting up in bed. “What was that?” he asked.  
“Phone call,” replied John.  
Alex nodded. He pawed at his throat and then moved his shirt collar back and forth over it.  
“Throat bothering you?” John asked, cooing.  
“Yeah, killin’ me,” Alex said, tugging more on his collar.  
“Want some tea? Or I can make that thing with the lemon and honey,” John offered.  
Alex said he’d have the ‘thing with the lemon and honey’, so John went to make it. It really worked wonders on your throat. You almost forget you have whichever ailment you have for however long it takes to drink. John brought it back to Alex, helping him drink.  
When Alex was done drinking, John climbed into Alex’s lap, running his fingers through Alex’s hair, which was tangled and sweaty from his fever. “Babe, do you want me to brush your hair?” John offered. “It’ll feel really relaxing.”  
Alex’s eyes lit up and sparkled. “Please!”  
John went to get Alex’s big brush and came back, straddling his boyfriend from behind and starting to brush his hair.  
“You know,” Alex said, sniffling. “When someone works through a knot in my hair, I always sneeze.”  
John blushed, exhaling against Alex’s neck. He picked up the brush and started through Alex’s thick hair, section by section. He came across the first big knot and it coincided with Alex’s breath catching.  
“What do doctors say about it?” John asked, desperate to hear Alex talk while he was getting ready to sneeze.  
“Doctors s-say… It’s a nerve… huh… nerve problem…” Alex explained through choppy breaths, holding his hand up to his nose.  
He stopped brushing for a second, feeling Alex’s back move away from his thighs as he sneezed. “Huh’IISHHHew! HATCHHoo!” As Alex moved back into position, John could feel him take more stilted breaths. “Ha-ISSSHHoum!”  
Alex was so close to John now, leaning in even farther than he was before. John took the brush and proceeded to brush his boyfriend’s hair out again. He avoided returning to the same knot so he grabbed a different chunk of hair and started on that. John’s heart was pounding in his chest and all the blood in his body, he felt, was in his face.  
“You know what I can’t do myself?” asked Alex, sounding poetic. “Make myself sneeze by brushing my hair. It’s always gotta be done by someone else. It’s a team effort, and I’m honored to have it be done by you.”  
John stopped brushing, feeling his heart skip like five beats. “Do you mean like, brush your hair, or make you s-s…”  
“The second one,” Alex said calmly, as if what he said wasn’t shaking John to his core.  
“Alex, that reminds me, I really should…” John said, scooting away from Alex, looking directly into his boyfriend’s beautiful brown eyes. All he could hear in his ears was the thump-thump-thump of his heart. He was about to reveal his biggest secret since he told Alex that he liked him.  
“You dummy, I know,” Alex blurted out, his own face getting red.  
“Know about the-”  
“Yes, I do, you huge dummy,” Alex said. “You wanna know how I began to feel suspicious? Remember when we went on our first date and I drank too much of that wine and ended up sneezing all over you on the subway home?”  
John nodded.  
“You fucking moaned. You straight up moaned. I know I was pretty buzzed, but I vividly remember you having this little gasp and then a moan, under your breath. Did you cum in your pants?” Alex asked with a little smirk. He was pretty pleased with his ability to well, drive John nuts.  
“No, but I almost did after I got back to my apartment and replayed that moment in my mind,” John confessed.  
“It was confirmed for me when you came when I sneezed. But I didn’t want to make you feel weird about it. You can’t choose your fetish,” Alex said, his tone softer now. “I guess you were always one who wanted to talk about things, so we’re going to talk about it now. I actually think that if you’re going to have a fetish, this is a really innocent one. You’re allowed to make me sneeze if you like, and I want to be a good boyfriend about it. What can I do to be a good boyfriend about it?”  
“What you’re doing,” John replied. “You’re being very understanding.”  
“Actually, I saved something for this day,” Alex said, getting a very Alex-y look in his eyes. He went over to his sock drawer and fished around until he pulled out a black bottle of cologne. “Remember this bad boy?”

*Roughly One Year Ago*  
They were at the perfume counter at the mall. Alex was wearing a very cute big sweater and John was thinking about how adorable he looked and when he saw him smelling the various perfumes and getting very happy about it, John also couldn’t help thinking about-  
“HATchee!” Alex curled at the waist, sneezing into his hand. “Oh, bless me,” he mumbled, setting a black bottle of cologne back on the countertop.  
“Which one is that?” John asked, moving towards the bottle. He was trying to look as innocuous as possible.  
“I don’t know,” Alex said, wiping a tiny sneeze-induced tear out of the corner of his eye. “It smells amazing, but it makes me huh-huh-...”  
John pretended not to notice or care as he read the name of the bottle, held its luxurious weight in his hand. He popped the top off and took a smell himself. It was very musky and had what smelled like large chunks of spice (even though he knew it’d be physically impossible). He could never imagine Alex wearing it, but Alex wearing it naked in bed would be-  
John shook the thought away, putting the cap back on. Alex was experiencing major breath hitching beside him, so he put the cologne back on the counter again and beheld his beloved boyfriend being taken over by the strong scent, expressive nostrils now widening and coming back inwards with the supreme urge to sneeze.  
John had to fight to keep a grin off his face. “Can’t s-s-s…?”  
Alex nodded, pointing to the perfume bottle. John knew what to do. He unscrewed the top and let a tiny bit drip off onto his finger. Then he held his finger underneath Alex’s nose and let him get a good sniff. Alex doubled over, sneezing into his cupped hands. “Huh’ITSHHew! ITSSSHHew! Huh-huh-huh-CHOOO! Excuse me,” Alex said, shuddering. He wiped his dripping nose on the collar of his sweater. “I certainly won’t get that one,” he said, chuckling. “Could you imagine?”  
John nodded, feeling very light on his feet. He could imagine.  
“Now, do you want to run over to the shirts to see what you can find to watch the game tonight?” Alex asked, looking over towards the men’s department. There was a display of in-season sports tees.  
John was immediately distracted by the t-shirt display and scurried away, leaving Alex by the perfume counter.

*Back to Present Day*  
“You bought it?” John nearly shouted from excitement, embracing his boyfriend.  
“Yeah, I bought it specifically for today,” Alex said, uncapping the top. “I wanted it to be uncovered exactly when you felt brave enough to tell me.”  
John cupped Alex’s face with his hand and stared into his eyes lovingly. He closed his other hand around the perfume bottle.


End file.
